Books reviews with the occasional interview thrown in for good measure

Oh, Mantel. We’ve got to disclose our out-and-out literary adulation for Hilary Mantel – our conviction that she’s working at a level of stylistic and intellectual prowess that’s beyond most of the writers that we read and otherwise appreciate, enjoy and respect today. While pre-Wolf Hall Mantel was already an acknowledged talent – its most recent antecedent, Beyond Black, was shortlisted for both the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the (then) Orange Prize, and its predecessors in turn raked in a hefty load of awards in their times – she’s since become a household name; and when Bring Up The Bodies (rightfully) earned her the second Booker, she entered that delightful British niche: the Author Begrudged. She’s won too many prizes; she’s taking up shortlist space that other writers could more fruitfully populate; oh, yeah, her – well, of course they gave it to her: that last with…